How LIFE-ND has reduced youth restiveness in Niger Delta

…And what team discovered in Bayelsa State

The Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project in the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND) is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) crafted by the partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to manage a $90m fund to boost food and fibre.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was to bring $30m of the total fund that was to cover three states but this did not happen until Samuel Ogbuku became the managing director.

On the eve of Christmas of 2025, LIFE ND went on an inspection tour of projects in some of the states of the region where the projects are located. This started in Akwa Ibom State and ended in Bayelsa.

The state coordinator in Yenagoa, Amos Kester Ebiwei, revealed that how they have reached over 4,500 youths across the different local governments and communities selected. The project targets only 10 LGAs in each state but Bayelsa has some luck; they have only eight LGAs and thus, all benefitted.

Read also: IFAD agric stimulation in progress: High cost of feeds drags fish farmers

According to Ebiwei, the project also reached out to women and persons with disability. “We can tell you that in terms of infrastructure and also human capacity building, we have built infrastructure. We have cassava processing plants, plantain processing plants, etc. A lot of youths are working in these locations.

“Also, many young persons who came as incubates have established their plantations and are now incubator. They now have their own facilities. Regarding output from the project, Bayelsa has some of the best beneficiaries. So we have so many youths who are now off the streets and are currently doing very well in their different respective areas of interest.”

The officials admitted that the many agric projects targeting young persons have removed youths out of the streets and reduced restiveness in the Niger Delta especially as it is well embraced in the communities, focusing on infrastructure, human capital development, nutrition, economic wellbeing, etc. The gains are huge.

“We commend the beneficiaries on how they accepted this scheme. I assure them of better tomorrow.”

He said there is so much hope for LIFE-ND in Bayelsa State with so much to achieve.

Focus:

The project coordinator said they are mainly looking at poultry, fish farming, cassava, and plantain because these ones are domiciled in Bayelsa State. “We have been able to establish cassava processing plants, and plantain processing plants. We have also established poultry farms, broiler production setups, and layer production setups. And we’ve also done quite a lot in the fishery aspect.”

LIFE-ND also supplies inputs, reaching out to farmers. They have already adopted the incubatee-incubator model; incubators have the farms. “We bring in incubatees, those who do not own farms, but are interested in agriculture.

“After training, we supply them with inputs to set up their own system. So there is infrastructure, there’s also input supply, there is support system. Business Development System (BDS) are for those who are into business who need some form of capital to scale their businesses. So these are some of the achievements we have recorded in Bayelsa.”

On terrain, he said the workers are from the state and are familiar with the terrain. When travelling by water, only those comfortable with it are allowed to travel. “We also have roadways. The governor here has done so much in connecting communities with roads.”

He went on: “When we get to the communities, we find out their needs to do what they need. But we look at the gray areas, what we think we can do for them to be actively involved in agriculture. So we are able to reach out to those communities both by road, both by waterways. When we have to go through the water, we make sure we select our staff, those that are very much inclined with the waterways and can swim properly in case we have emergencies. So, accessing these communities is the easiest part of our job. So we make sure we reach out to every community that is expected to benefit from this programme.

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